Neighborhood Problems Research Articles

Exploring the Key Factors of Old Neighborhood Environment Affecting Physical and Mental Health of the Elderly in Skipped-Generation Household Using an RST-DEMATEL Model

Most elderly people choose to age in place, making neighborhood environments essential factors affecting their health status. The policies, economic status, and housing conditions of old neighborhoods have led many elderly people to live in skipped-generation households (SGHs), where they have gradually weakened physical functions and are responsible for raising grandchildren; this puts their health in a more fragile state than that of the average elderly person. Practical experience has shown that when faced with complex environmental renovation problems in old communities, many cases often adopt a one-step treatment strategy; however, many scholars have questioned the sustainability of such unsystematically evaluated renovation projects. Therefore, it is often valuable to explore the root causes of these old neighborhood problems and conduct targeted transformations and upgrades according to the interactive relationship between various influencing factors. This study attempted to establish a novel evaluation system to benefit the health of elderly families in old neighborhoods and develop an understanding of the impact relationship among the indicators, while avoiding any form of waste when collecting responses in regard to the future transformation of old neighborhoods. A questionnaire survey was conducted on the elderly in the Guangzhou Che Bei neighborhood in China, and by applying the rough set theory of the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory model, we established a preliminary evaluation system, obtained key environmental factors affecting the health of elderly people living in SGHs, and clarified their mutual relationships. Finally, on this basis, we proposed corresponding neighborhood renewal suggestions. The results of this study provide a theoretical basis for future research, and our research model can be applied to similar aging research in the future.

Assessing Resident Perceptions of Physical Disorder on Perceptions of Crime

This paper investigates whether perceptions of neighborhood physical disorder—measured by vacant lots, vacant buildings, and overgrown vegetation—influence perceptions of crime and perceptions of the frequency or magnitude of crime events. We use ordinal logistic regression to analyze individual-level and contextual-level variables derived from a survey of 401 randomly selected residents in seven New Orleans neighborhoods. Findings show that as perceptions of physical disorder increase, so does the likelihood of perceiving violent crime as more of a neighborhood problem than property crime. As residents perceive greater physical disorder, their perception of crime level decreases. Finally, residents who perceive greater physical disorder are more likely to perceive crime levels to be stable to increasing over the previous five years. The category of “physical disorder” is inherently subjective, and future research should distinguish between social disorder and physical disorder in the evaluation of perceptions of crime. Our major contribution is to empirically demonstrate that the influence of physical disorder on crime perceptions depends upon the crime type and temporal scale under investigation.

Life satisfaction and perceived and objective neighborhood environments in a green-accredited township: Quantile regression approach

The characteristics of one's neighborhood have a significant impact on life satisfaction in older people, as a properly designed neighborhood can support aging in place. Although there are various aspects subsumed under neighborhood environment, this study examines perceived and objective neighborhood environmental characteristics, such as accessibility, neighborhood safety, environmental quality, neighborhood problems, and third places. Using a questionnaire survey as well as an in-depth interview, this paper examines the effect of neighborhood environment attributes on life satisfaction among older people living in a green accredited township. The quantile regression estimates show that different quantiles of respondents attach different importance to the determinants of life satisfaction. As for third places, visiting neighborhood shopping centers and taking lifelong learning courses at school may be determinants of life satisfaction when controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. By revealing the environmental determinants of life satisfaction among Malaysian older people, this study provides information for housing associations and urban planners to design an age-friendly neighborhood.

Neighborhood characteristics and arterial stiffness among Black adults - Results from the Jackson Heart Study and Morehouse-Emory Cardiovascular Center for Health Equity.

Poor quality neighborhood environments are independent risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) but are understudied in Black adults, who face large CVD health disparities. Arterial stiffness, a marker of early vascular aging, precedes development of hypertension and adverse CVD events but the effect of neighborhood on arterial stiffness among Black adults remains unknown. We compared the association between neighborhood environment and arterial stiffness among Black adults in Jackson, MS and Atlanta, GA. We studied 1582 Black adults (mean age 53 ± 10, 35% male) living in Jackson, MS from the Jackson Heart Study (JHS) and 451 Black adults (mean age 53 ± 10, 39% male) living in Atlanta, GA from the Morehouse-Emory Cardiovascular Center for Health Equity (MECA) study, without known CVD. Neighborhood problems (includes measures of aesthetic quality, walking environment, food access), social cohesion (includes activity with neighbors), and violence/safety were assessed using validated questionnaires. Arterial stiffness was measured as pulse wave velocity (PWV) using magnetic resonance imaging in JHS and as PWV and augmentation index (AIx) using applanation tonometry (SphygmoCor, Inc.) in MECA. Multivariable linear regression models were used to examine the association between neighborhood characteristics and arterial stiffness, adjusting for potential confounders. Improved social characteristics, measured as social cohesion in JHS (β = -0.32 [-0.63, -0.02], p = 0.04) and activity with neighbors (β = -0.23 [-0.40, -0.05], p = 0.01) in MECA, were associated with lower PWV in both cohorts and lower AIx (β = -1.74 [-2.92, - 0.56], p = 0.004) in MECA, after adjustment for CVD risk factors and income. Additionally, in MECA, better food access (β = -1.18 [-2.35, - 0.01], p = 0.05) was associated with lower AIx and, in JHS, lower neighborhood problems (β = -0.33 [-0.64, - 0.02], p = 0.04) and lower violence (β = -0.30 [-0.61, 0.002], p = 0.05) were associated with lower PWV. Neighborhood social characteristics show an independent association with the vascular health of Black adults, findings that were reproducible in two distinct American cities.

ACTIVITY OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN ELIMINATING SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN NEIGHBORHOODS

Studying the meaning, nature, origin and impact of problems in all spheres of society is not only theoretical, but also practical. This issue is important in the processes related to the study and analysis of people living in the society and the problems in every sphere of society, from small problems to the global scale. In this process, it creates an opportunity to eliminate the problems of people, social institutions, regions through modern measures and technologies and to show their positive results in life. This article covers social problems in neighborhoods and issues of increasing innovative activity of young people in solving them.

NEIGHBORHOOD PREDICTORS OF MENTAL HEALTH OF OLDER AMERICANS: EVIDENCE FROM A 5-YEAR LONGITUDINAL STUDY

Abstract With increasing dependence on other people in old age, environmental resources become an important asset for older adults to experience healthy aging. Data on the longitudinal relationship between neighborhood and mental health in late life is scanty. This study utilized hierarchical multiple regression model analysis to investigate whether and which neighborhood factors predicted depression and anxiety among older Americans followed up for over five years within the same neighborhood. Two waves of data containing a cohort of 1,731 older adults from the NSHAP project were used. Outcome measures were depression and anxiety. Predictors were four neighborhood factors: Social cohesion (NSC), social ties (NSC), neighborhood problems (NP), and perceived neighborhood danger (PND). We adjusted for demographic and physical health characteristics. The mean age of the respondents was 71.4 ± 6.5 years and were mostly females (55.5%). Lower NSC and a higher PND significantly predicted depression. However, the model only explained 2.8% of the variance in depression. In the covariate-adjusted model, none of the neighborhood factors predicted depression, but the model significantly improved to 32.5%. NP was the only significant predictor of anxiety in the final model and explained 27.8% of the variance in anxiety. Covariates, which are primary determinants of mental health disparity, have a much larger role to play. This study sheds some light on the complexity of the relationship between neighborhood and mental health in older adults. Future policy development and interventions should target improving both physical and social environments to enhancing the mental wellbeing of older adults.

Вершинно-зважена гіпотеза Сеймура

Seymour's conjecture is one of the most famous unsolved mathematical problems in graph theory, which was formulated by Paul Seymour in 1990. This problem is also known as the «second neighborhood problem». A directed graph models a social network in which no two people knoweach other at the same time. This conjecture states that there will be at least one person for whom acquaintances of acquaintances will be no less than ac-quaintances. Definitions and basic theorems of graph theory are described in [1-3]. For an arbitrary graph, Seymour's hypothesis remains unsolved, but there are already proofs for partial cases and for some types of graphs, which are given in [4-6].Seacrest Tyler [5] investigated Seymour's conjecture for graphs with weighted arcs.In [6] showed that every simple digraph without loops or digons con-tains a vertexvfor which the second neighborhood is greater than or equal to the first multiplied by a certain constant.In [7] provided sufficient conditions under which there must exist some vV(D), as wellas examine properties of a minimal graph which does not have such a vertex. We show that if one such graph exists, then there exist in-finitely many strongly-connected graphs having no such vertex.The relevance of the chosen research topic is determined by the rapid pace of development of modern graph theory, which is associated with the expansion of its scope of use: business, logistics, tourism and, most im-portantly, modeling of various networks. One extension of the conjecture is to consider vertex-weighted di-graphs. In this paper we introduce a version of the conjecture for vertex-weighted digraphs and proved that the Seymour conjecture is equivalent to conjecture for vertex-weighted digraphs.

Biological Age Mediates the Effects of Perceived Neighborhood Problems on Heart Failure Risk Among Black Persons.

We assessed whether biological age, measured by the epigenetic clock GrimAge, mediates the association of objective and subjective neighborhood disadvantage with incident HF among Black persons. Participants were 1448 self-reported Black adults (mean age (standard deviation, SD) = 64.3 (5.5)) dually enrolled in two community-based cohorts in Jackson, Mississippi, the ARIC and JHS cohorts, who were free of HF as of January 1, 2000. Incident HF events leading to hospitalization through December 31, 2017, were classified using ICD-9 discharge codes of HF. Multilevel age- and sex-adjusted Cox causal mediation models were used to examine whether biological age (at the person and neighborhood level) mediated the effects of objective (the National Area Deprivation Index, ADI) and subjective (perceived neighborhood problems) neighborhood disadvantage on incident HF. A total of 334 incident hospitalized HF events occurred over a median follow-up of 18.0years. The total effect of the ADI and perceived neighborhood problems (SD units) on HF was hazard ration (HR) = 1.26 and 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.98-1.56 and HR = 1.26 and 95% CI 1.10-1.41, respectively. GrimAge mediated a majority of the effect of perceived neighborhood problems on HF (person-level indirect effect HR = 1.07; 95% CI 1.02-1.12 and neighborhood-level indirect effect HR = 1.18; 95% CI 1.03-1.34), with the combined indirect effect explaining 94.8% of the relationship. The combined indirect effect of ADI on incident HF was comparable but not statistically significant. Subjective neighborhood disadvantage may confer an increased risk of HF among Black populations.

Evaluating area-based policies using secondary data: the neighbourhood management pathfinders programme

This study explores the feasibility of evaluating neighbourhood-based initiatives using secondary data. As a case study, we consider the Pathfinders programme, an area-based UK intervention and evaluate its impact on a broad range of outcomes in both short and longer term. We use grid reference data from a household panel survey to identify individuals living in ‘treated’ areas before and after and appropriate control individuals living in ‘untreated’ areas. Using a difference-in-difference approach complemented with matching, we find that the programme had positive effects on reported neighbourhood problems as well as on local social interaction, which was not an intended outcome. We also show the practical usefulness of combining secondary data and geographical identifiers to evaluate area-based policies. Using data not collected for this purpose enables the consideration of a broad range of intended and unintended outcomes over the long-run. A drawback of the approach is to require large scale geographical initiatives to ensure a sufficient number of targeted units.

Association Between Social Determinants of Health and Glycemic Control Among African American People with Type 2 diabetes: The Jackson Heart Study.

Social determinants of health have a significant impact on health outcomes. However, the complexity and interaction of multiple factors influencing glycemic control remain understudied. This study examined associations of socioeconomic position (income, education, and occupation), environmental (physical activity facilities, neighborhood social cohesion, neighborhood problem, and violence), behavioral (physical activity, nutrition, and smoking), and psychological factors (depressive symptoms, stress, and discrimination) with glycemic control (hemoglobin A1c [A1c]) using the World Health Organization Social Determinants of Health framework in African American adults with type 2 diabetes. A secondary data analysis was conducted using a longitudinal cohort of 1,240 African American adults with type 2 diabetes who participated in the community-based Jackson Heart Study. Socioeconomic position, environmental, behavioral, and psychological factors were measured using validated instruments in the Jackson Heart Study. Longitudinal structural equation modeling was used with glycemic control (A1c) collected over time (Exams 1-3) as the study outcome. Our study presents the complex interplay of socioeconomic determinants of health and glycemic control over time. Higher socioeconomic position (higher income, higher level of education, and professional occupation) was directly associated with improvement in glycemic control over time. An association of socioeconomic position on glycemic control mediated through health behavior factors was also observed. In this analysis, socioeconomic position components were determinants of glycemic control in African American adults with type 2 diabetes. Future studies aimed at reducing health disparities and achieving equality of outcomes in this population will benefit from embedding socioeconomic position components into their design.

Perceived neighborhood factors, health behaviors, and related outcomes in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos

Hispanic/Latino populations may experience significant neighborhood disadvantage, but limited research has explored whether these factors affect their health behaviors. Associations between perceived neighborhood factors at Visit 1 and health behaviors and related outcomes at Visit 2 in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos were evaluated. Multivariable logistic regression assessed cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between perceived neighborhood social cohesion (NSC, 5 items), and neighborhood problems (NP, 7 items), with cancer screening, current smoking, excessive/binge drinking, hypertension, obesity, physical activity, and poor diet by gender and birthplace. NSC and NP scores were converted into quartiles. Mean age of participants was 42.5 years and 62.1% were women. Perceived NP, but not perceived NSC, differed by gender (p < 0.001). In unstratified models, no significant associations were observed between perceived NSC and any health behavior, whereas greater perceived NP was associated with less adherence to colon cancer screening (moderate level: aOR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.51, 090) and more physical activity (very high level: aOR = 1.34, 95% CI = 1.06, 1.69) compared to low perceived NP. Women with moderate perceived NP, versus low NP, had a lower odds of colon cancer screening at Visit 1 (aOR = 0.62, 95% CI = 0.43, 0.91) and higher odds of mammogram adherence at Visit 2 (aOR = 2.86, 95% CI = 1.44, 5.68). Men with high perceived NP had a higher odds of excessive or binge drinking at Visit 2 (aOR = 1.99, 95% CI = 1.19, 3.31). We conclude that perceived NP were significantly related to health behaviors among HCHS/SOL individuals. Perceptions of neighborhood environment may be considered modifiable factors of structural neighborhood environment interventions.

Housing conditions of single mothers in Europe: the role of housing policies

ABSTRACT This study investigates housing conditions of single mothers in the context of housing policies. We study single mothers’ probability to experience housing deprivation, overcrowded housing, overburdening costs of housing, and neighbourhood problems across European countries. We consider the structural consequences of home ownership rates, and policies related to regulation of rental markets, housing benefits and housing prices. We apply a multi-level framework to EU-SILC data on 21,937 single mothers, from 195 country-years and covering 21 European countries from 2008 to 2017. First, we find a trade-off in the provision of free housing or housing at reduced rents, that helps to reduce housing cost overburden for single mothers, but is also associated with higher rates of housing deprivation, overcrowding and neighbourhood problems. Next, in contexts with stricter rental market regulation, single mothers’ housing deprivation is lower. Higher housing benefits reduce the risk of housing deprivation as well as overcrowding, but in contexts where home ownership is common, single mothers tend to experience more overcrowding. Single mothers are more likely to report neighbourhood problems in societies where housing prices are high. Our findings suggest that factors within the control of policy makers can be beneficial to the housing conditions of single mothers.

QUANTIFYING THE QUALITY AND DETECTING SOCIAL INEQUALITY IN THE PROSPEROUS AND DEPRIVED ZONES URBAN PARKS OF TABRIZ, IRAN

High-quality urban parks within the urban built environment will help create healthy and sustainable cities. This study aimed to analyze the quality of two urban parks located in deprived and prosperous zones of Tabriz city, Iran, which present high relevance for ecological equity topic. The study merely explored users’ perceived quality, considering sub-factors such as sense of place, satisfaction, security, comfort, and perception of attractiveness using a subjective method. The results show that the prosperous zone urban park (PZUP) has average quality, however, has significantly better status in terms of public satisfaction, security, comfort, perceived attractiveness, and sense of belonging to place, compared to the deprived zone urban park (DZUP). Since security influences people’s perception of other quality indicators in PZUP, approaches to increase citizens' sense of security can greatly improve the quality of PZUP. In PZUP, inducing a higher sense of security will contribute to higher comfort, a stronger sense of belonging to place, and a positive perception of attractiveness. On the contrary, there are deep quality problems in DZUP. Quality and security problems of the DZUP root in the informal settlements around the park. The results show the priority to solve the problems in the park neighborhood. These have high relevance for enhancing the equity in accessing urban parks, both in DZUP and PZUP.

Restricted Hamming–Huffman trees

We study a special case of Hamming–Huffman trees, in which both data compression and data error detection are tackled on the same structure. Given a hypercubeQnof dimensionn, we are interested in some aspects of its vertex neighborhoods. For a subsetLof vertices ofQn, the neighborhood ofLis defined as the union of the neighborhoods of the vertices ofL. The minimum neighborhood problem is that of determining the minimum neighborhood cardinality over all those setsL. This is a well-known problem that has already been solved. Our interest lies in determining optimal Hamming–Huffman trees, a problem that remains open and which is related to minimum neighborhoods inQn. In this work, we consider a restricted version of Hamming–Huffman trees, called [k]-HHT s, which admit symbol leaves in at mostkdifferent levels. We present an algorithm to build optimal [2]-HHT s. For uniform frequencies, we prove that an optimal HHT is always a [5]-HHT and that there exists an optimal HHT which is a [4]-HHT . Also, considering experimental results, we conjecture that there exists an optimal tree which is a [3]-HHT .

Empowering the Community to Identify and Prioritize Neighborhood Development Needs: A Qualitative Study

Background: The present study aimed to empower the community to identify and prioritize the needs for the health development of the Eskan neighborhood in Yazd province, Iran. Methods: This community-based participatory research (CBPR) was conducted in the Eskan neighborhood, Yazd. The project ‘neighborhood health improvement plan (Tabasom)’ was conducted, which included five steps (i.e., area identification, organization, empowerment, needs assessment and prioritization, and intervention and action). In the present paper, two steps, namely empowerment and needs assessment, are described. Results: The results revealed 10 high-priority problems in the Eskan neighborhood. The first problem with the highest priority was associated with waste management. Conclusions: According to the findings, empowering and educating individuals to detect the neighborhood problems led to the better identification of the problems, resulting in the further development of the neighborhood and the provision of more effective solutions by the authorities with the community participation.

Perceived Environmental Attributes: Their Impact on Older Adults' Mental Health in Malaysia.

In Malaysia, the population of older adults will increase in the coming years. In this context, there is a requirement to build an age-friendly environment to enable the elderly to age healthily. Many studies have shown that a built environment that allows older adults to age in place improves their mental health. However, person-environment analysis that considers mental well-being has remained rare for older adults living in Malaysia. This study examines the relationship between Malaysian seniors’ perceptions of their surroundings at home and in the neighborhood and their mental health. Using stratified sampling, 510 seniors aged 60 and over were interviewed. The results showed that accessibility (p-value 0.033, 95% CI for coefficients 0.006, 0.146), environmental qualities (0.015, 0.014, 0.129) and neighborhood problems (0.000, −0.299, −0.146) were significant determinants of elderly people’s mental health. With respect to respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics, female elderly (0.000, 0.616, 0.782), older adults with an elementary education (0.000, 0.263, 0.685) or a college degree (0.026, 0.019, 0.294), being married (0.005, 0.047, 0.259), the ability to drive (0.000, 0.993, 1.315), the number of dependents in the family (0.003, −0.060, −0.012), and homeownership (0.000, −0.602, −0.271) were significantly related to mental well-being.

The impact of neighborhood context on telomere length: A systematic review.

A growing body of research demonstrates the association between neighborhood context and health. The underlying biological mechanisms of this association are not fully understood. We conducted a systematic review of studies that investigated the association between neighborhood context and telomere length (TL), a DNA-protein complex that shortens after cell division. Short TL is linked to age-related diseases and may be impacted by chronic stress. Nineteen eligible articles identified through PubMed and Scopus met inclusion criteria. Results demonstrated inconsistent support for the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and short TL. However, findings across several studies provide evidence for an inverse association between perceived neighborhood problems and TL, suggesting that TL may be an important factor in understanding health vulnerabilities associated specifically with negative perceptions of the neighborhood context.

Inequality in the Experience of Stressful Psychological Events: Evidence from a Regional Survey in Tehran.

Background: Socioeconomic status is one of the most important social determinants of the formation of stressful events. The purpose of this study was to estimate the amount of inequality in experiencing stressful events among higher and lower socio-economic groups and zones of Tehran citizens. Methods: The study was descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional. Through a multistage sampling method, 5895 adult residents in Tehran were selected. The research tool was a researcher-made questionnaire designed to measure stressful events in Tehran, which includes 11 dimensions of stressful factors. Concentration index and concentration curves were used to analyze the data. Results: Among the 11 stressful life events, 6 of them were significant. Stress by the neighborhood problems (CI = -0.47, 95% CI: -0.66, -0.28) and living problems (CI = -0.50, 95% CI: -0.68, -0.32) was pro-rich, and these two dimensions formed the greatest inequality between the poor and the rich. The other 3 dimensions of stress caused by housing problems, political problems and fear of the future were also pro-rich. Only educational problem stressors were pro-poor. Stressful life event experience was concentrated on residents of low-development areas (zones 1 and 2). Conclusion: Residents of Tehran experience stressful events unequally, and this inequality exists both within and between social groups. Most stressful events were observed among the poor and less developed zones.

De verspreiding van de Rotterdamwet in de regio Rijnmond: een analyse van diffusiemechanismen

The so called Dutch ‘Rotterdam Act’ (Act on Extraordinary Measures for Urban Problems) is an ultimum remedium for persistent neighborhood problems such as concentrated poverty and criminality. The idea is that selective housing allocation benefits the local quality of life. Despite the fact that the origin and effects of the policy have been extensively researched, it remains insufficiently clear why increasingly more municipalities choose to introduce this policy. This development is remarkable, as evaluations show few convincing positive developments in the assigned neighborhoods and much criticism has been voiced about the discriminatory nature of the measure. By applying theories of policy diffusion, this study attempts to answer the question why the measure is gaining popularity. Using the event history analysis method – with data collected from council debates, council documentation, the ‘Leefbaarometer’ and ‘Findo’ – it has become clear that the municipalities in this region mainly follow nationally set norms drawn up and spread by the Dutch Ministry of the Interior. It also becomes clear that the municipalities are transformatively copying the policy from the municipality of Rotterdam: the municipalities are trying to shape their policy in such a way that it deviates from the ‘unsuccessful’ version of Rotterdam. The expectation of local councilmembers is that the chance of success is therefore higher, although the alternative version is not substantiated by thorough research. Thus, the policymakers are implementing the far-reaching policy despite substantial uncertainty about the results.

Latinx youth's ethnic‐racial identity in context: Examining ethnic‐racial socialization in a new destination area

AbstractThe current study examined how ethnic‐racial socialization (i.e., ERS; cultural socialization, preparation for bias) is shaped by neighborhood characteristics and parents’ perceived discrimination, as well as how ERS shapes youth ethnic‐racial identity (ERI) among Latinx parent‐adolescent dyads (N= 69) living in a new destination area (i.e., not historically settled by Latinx populations). Results showed that neighborhood diversity was positively associated with parents’ ERS beliefs, which in turn were associated with youth's perceptions of parents’ ERS behaviors, which predicted youth ERI outcomes (i.e., centrality and private regard). Neighborhood problems were negatively associated with youth public regard. Neither neighborhood problems nor parents’ perceived discrimination was associated with ERS. The current study adds to limited empirical evidence on how neighborhood structural and social characteristics impact ERS, and in turn, ERI, among Latinx families. Overall, study findings advance knowledge on how cultural and contextual factors shape ERS in an understudied context.